Margin & Mission Ignition Expands to New Nonprofits

Four new nonprofits from Manatee, Sarasota and Charlotte counties have opted to take on an 18-month process that will provide the opportunity to develop and implement business plans to build capacity, boost revenue, and strengthen their impact in the region.

These four nonprofits are participating in an expansion of The Patterson Foundation’s Margin & Mission Ignition initiative. This is the third year The Patterson Foundation has presented Margin & Mission Ignition, which was created to help regional nonprofits strengthen their work by adopting entrepreneurial principles and strategies to generate revenue. Between January and June, 11 organizations engaged in Margin & Mission Ignition from previous years earned almost $992,000.

“Nonprofits continually quest for resources to deliver on their missions, and some have the leadership, willingness, readiness, capacity and culture to develop earned-income streams that not only deliver margin, but also advance their missions," said Debra Jacobs, president and CEO of The Patterson Foundation. “These four organizations completed a series of labs, where their staff and board leadership learned about earned income and are now ready for investing their energies in the rigor of business planning.”

Margin & Mission Ignition is presented in partnership with No Margin, No Mission, a social enterprise and national consulting firm that works with the organizations to explore ways to generate revenue and implement entrepreneurial plans. The 11 nonprofits that have participated to date have developed plans to expand service offerings or create new services through their learnings in the initiative.

The nonprofits applied to participate in the 18-month planning and implementation phase following a series of assessments, consultations with No Margin, No Mission, and learning labs that began in March to help them assess their readiness to take on an earned-income endeavor. Margin & Mission Ignition will bring these organizations together to learn and share from one another as they each progress in the development and execution of their business plans.